In general, as one means for dispensing a suitable amount of contents, such as cosmetics, shampoo, or detergent, contained in a container, a dispensing pump is mounted on a container for use.
The dispensing pumps according to the related art, which are mounted on a container and used to dispense a small amount of contents as described above, have been variously proposed. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a general contents dispensing pump includes a pump body 110 in which an opening and closing ball 122, an operating piston 123 elastically supported by a spring, and a cylinder 120 for allowing the contents in a contents storing chamber 126 to foe dispensed through a push button 140 by generating pressure in the contents storing chamber 126 with the operating piston 123 are installed.
An air-tight piston 124 is further installed to the operating piston 123 and the push button 140 is installed in an operating tube 130 coupled to the operating piston 123 of the cylinder 120.
According to the above-described contents dispensing pump of the related art, when the push button 140 is pushed, an air gap is generated between the air-tight piston 124 and the operating piston 123. In this case, a pressure is generated in the contents storing chamber 126 while the air-tight piston 124 and the operating piston 123 together move down, so that the contents are dispensed through a contents transferring passage 123a of the operating piston 123 due to the pressure.
In this case, the opening and closing ball 122 is tightly closed to a contents introducing passage 125 by the compressed spring 121 so that the contents introducing passage 125 is closed.
After the push button 140 is pushed to dispense contents as described above, when the pushed button 140 is released from the external force applied thereto, as shown in FIG. 2, the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124 may move up together due to the repulsive elastic force accumulated in the spring 121.
At the initial lifting stage of the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124 ascending as described above, while the air-tight piston 124 is stooped ascending due to the friction with an inside of the cylinder 120, the operating piston 123 first moves up to close the air gap between the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124, so that the contents transferring passage 123a is closed.
In the state that the contents transferring passage 123a is shut off, when the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124 are continuously lifted up, a vacuum pressure is generated in the contents storing chamber 125 and the opening and closing ball 122 is spaced apart from the contents introducing hole 125 due to the vacuum pressure generated in the contents storing chamber 126, so that the contents in the container are introduced into the contents storing chamber 126.
The contents dispensing pump according to the related art dispenses the contents while repeatedly performing the above-described operation.
However, the contents dispensing pump has a major drawback that, since a metallic ball and metallic spring are used as the opening and closing means for dispensing contents, the metallic ball and metallic spring are corroded due to chemical reaction with the contents so that the contents are polluted. In addition, since synthetic resin and metal are used as materials of the contents dispensing pump, when the used contents dispensing pump is discarded, it is difficult to separate the synthetic resin and metallic materials from each other, so that it is difficult to perform resource recycling.
Specifically, the structure of the contents dispensing pump according to the related art is complex, so that the productivity is deteriorated and the product price is increased. In addition, since the dispensing pump structurally has a long working stroke distance, when the dispensing pump is applied to a product such as a compact having a height less than a width thereof, it is difficult to mounting the dispensing pump on the product due to a small mounting space.
To solve the problem, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, there has been disclosed to a contents dispensing pump having a simple structure in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0063816 applied by the same applicant as that of the present application, wherein the contents dispensing pump can allow a deformed pressing member 260 to serve as a cylinder and an opening and closing valve to simplify a structure of the contents dispensing pump so that the productivity is improved and the product price is lowered, and at the same time, be easily mounted on a product having a small space in which the dispensing pump is to be mounted, by performing a pumping operation by changing the volume of a temporary contents reservoir TR due to a deformation of the deformed pressing member 260 such that a working stroke distance of the dispensing pump can be short.
To this end, the present invention provides a contents dispensing pump which is coupled to a container 210 for containing the contents therein to dispense the contents, wherein a deformed pressing member 260 descends by being pressed and deformed when a push button 250 descends such that the volume of a temporary reservoir TR in a pump main body 220 including a pump upper body 222 and a pump lower body 224 is reduced and pressure is generated in the temporary reservoir TB. Thus, a valve plate 240 closes a contents inlet 226, and a valve protrusion wheel 262 coming into close contact with a contents opening and closing piece 252 is widened by the pressure such that the contents contained in the temporary reservoir (TR) are dispensed through an outlet 254 while passing through a gap between the contents opening and closing piece 252 and the valve protrusion wheel 262.
Then, when the pressure that presses the push button 250 is removed, while the push button 250 lifts up by a restoring force of an elastic member 270, the deformed pressing member 260 pressed by the push button 250 is restored to the original state. Thus, the pressure generated within the temporary reservoir TR disappears and vacuum pressure is generated, so that the gap between the contents opening and closing piece 252 and the valve protrusional wheel 262 of the deformed pressing member 260 is closed and the central part of the valve plate 240 is lifted by the vacuum pressure to widen boundary lines of opening and closing lines 241. Thus, the contents contained in the container 210 move to the temporary reservoir TR through a gap between the valve plate 240 and the contents outlet 242, and in this case, the contents that have passed through the contents outlet 242 move to the temporary reservoir TR through gaps of the widened opening and closing lines 241 of the valve plate 240. When the contents are transferred so that the vacuum pressure of the temporary reservoir TR disappears, the opening and closing line 241 opened due to the autonomous elastic force is restored into the original state to foe closed so that the valve plate (40) closes the contents outlet 242.
However, according to the dispensing pump, the volume of the temporary reservoir TR is changed by deforming the deformation 260 to discharge the contents according to the pressure of the temporary reservoir TR. Although the contents in the temporary reservoir TR must be discharged while the valve protrusion wheel 262 of the deformed pressing member 260 is opened when the pressure of the temporary reservoir TR is increased, since the whole deformation pressing member 260 is formed of a soft rubber material having excellent elasticity, another part of the deformation pressing member 260 is billowed before the valve protrusion wheel 262 is opened so that it is difficult to dispense a constant amount of contents all the time.
To solve the problem, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, there has been disclosed to a contents dispensing pump in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0083084 applied by the same applicant as that of the present application, wherein a pump upper body is inserted into an upper inside of a pump main body and a valve protruding wheel of a discharge valve is inserted into an extension protrusion wheel of an upper portion of the pump upper body to discharge contents according to the vertical movement of the pump upper body moves up in a pump main body, so that the structure is simple, thereby increasing productivity and reducing the product price. In addition, the pumping is performed by varying the volume of a content temporary repository according to the vertical movement of the pump upper body in the pump main body, so that the pump for discharging contents has a short working stroke distance, thereby allowing the pump to be easily installed in a product having a small pump installing space.
According to the pump for discharging contents which is coupled to a container V for containing the contents to discharge the contents, the pump includes a suction valve plate (340) which closes a content inlet 332 as a volume of a temporary repository TR in a pump main body 310 is reduced and pressure is generated in the temporary repository TR when a pump upper body 320 moves down by pressing an upper surface of a pump upper body 320 or a discharge valve 150, and a valve protrusion wheel 352 in tight contact with a content outlet 322 of an extension protrusion wheel 326, wherein the valve protrusion wheel 352 is widened due to the pressure such that the contents in the temporary repository TR pass thorough the widened gap between the content outlet 322 and the valve protrusion wheel 352, and then, after passing through a flow path 324 which is a gap between the pump upper body 320 and the discharge valve 350, the contents are discharged through a gap which is created between an upper surface of the pump upper body 320 and an upper peripheral part of the discharge valve 350 as discharge pressure is applied to the upper peripheral part of the discharge valve 350.
When the pressure on the upper surface of the discharge valve 350 or the pump upper body 320 is removed, the pump upper body 320 moves up by restoring force of an elastic member 360 and a space of the temporary repository TR in the pump main body 310 is increased, so that vacuum pressure is generated and the gap between the valve protruding ring 352 of the discharge valve 330 and the content outlet 322 is closed. As boundaries of opening/closing lines 341 are widened while a central part of the suction valve plate 340 is raised upward due to the vacuum pressure, the contents in a container V are transferred to the temporary repository TR through a space between the suction valve plate 340 and the content inlet 320. In addition, when the contents are transferred so that the vacuum pressure in the temporary repository TR disappears, the widened opening/closing lines 341 are restored to an original state thereof and closed due to elastic force of the suction valve plate 340, so that the suction valve plate 340 closes the content inlet 332.
However, according to the contents dispensing pump, the volume of the temporary reservoir TR in the pump main body 310 is changed by allowing the pump upper body 320 inserted into the pump main body 310 to slide such that the volume of the temporary reservoir TR is changed, thereby discharging contents. Thus, according to the dispensing pump, the pump main body 310 serves as a cylinder and the pump upper body 320 serves as a piston, the friction between the pump main body 310 and the pump upper body 320 is increased so that the dispensing pump is not smoothly operated and large force is required to operating the dispensing pump, so it is inconvenient to operate the dispensing pump. In addition, due to the friction between the pump main body 310 and the pump tipper body 320, the abrasion becomes severe so that an abnormal phenomenon may occur in use.